


The Trial

by redfiona



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Legal Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-06-01
Updated: 2002-06-07
Packaged: 2017-10-07 16:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/67086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redfiona/pseuds/redfiona
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the aftermath of an accident, help comes from strange sources.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

They could all remember the scene as though it was yesterday.

The flashing lights of an ambulance rushing to the hotel, the rain as they looked out of the window. The sound the siren made as the ambulance raced to the hospital. Ambulances made a very distinct sound as they moved away, it was haunting.

Of course, there had been no sleep that night. Everyone was worried, and trying to find out what had happened. The way hundreds of garbled rumours were put together into something approximating the truth.

Even then it had been too odd to comprehend. Surely Raven must have known what would happen. Wasn't he supposed to be a past master at this.

But something had gone wrong.

And then getting the news that Jeff would be all right. And then seeing him. Hearing that someone was okay was one thing, seeing them was all together far more reassuring.

Jeff hadn't wanted to press charges. He'd decided it would be far too embarrassing. And damaging, you shouldn't forget damaging.

The police were 50/50 about it. Something was obviously wrong, and probably illegal, although this was definitely one of the greyer areas of the law. There was definitely consent. And Jeff knew what he was getting into, this wasn't the first time he'd done something like this. But on the other hand, he had nearly died, and someone else had caused that.

The thing that finally swung it towards criminal proceedings was Matt. You could see where he was coming from, it was his baby brother that had been on the operating table. When that was coupled with an already strong dislike of Raven, you should have known that there would be trouble.

So the police collected information, and it became readily apparent that Raven was in for it. The evidence mounted and mounted, until a trial became the only option.

The prosecution had had a field day. On the one hand you had two clean cut brothers, one of them badly hurt by some sex-crazed fiend; Jeff in particular had never done anything like this before and had shown no signs of wanting to, and on the other hand, there was Raven, who was the opposite of all that, about as opposite as you could get. The whole sordid story came out, Raven regularly torturing his lovers, the prosecution making it look like the consent was questionable, and giving him the powers of Mesmer, making it seem he had the animal attraction to convince people to say yes to anything and everything he said.

The defence case had next to nothing to go on. Raven had, however accidently, nearly killed Jeff. Dark sexual games were involved. Raven was an incredibly charismatic person. But there was still consent, and the position that it had all been a terrible accident, and that it wasn't in Raven's character to let things go so far.

That was why they were there, they were character witnesses. Their line was going to be, "yes, Raven is a sick-minded twist, but he's a responsible sick-minded twist."

They were beyond the wing and a prayer stage.


	2. Chapter 2

Of course Raven would have to make it difficult for himself by having crept completely into his shell. The defence lawyer knew he couldn't put him on the stand.

Meanwhile, Jeff was the highlight of the prosecution case. He pleaded and pleaded that Raven had meant him no harm, and that it had all been a horrible accident. The dye had washed out of his hair, and he was still carrying the wasting effects of a prolonged stay in hospital.

The effect that all this had on the jury was to make it clear that Raven, sitting crouched in an orange prison jumpsuit with unkempt hair that looked like it didn't know what shampoo was, had a hold over the poor damaged boy, and must have been the evil force that made sweet young innocent looking Jeff allow such terrible things to be done to his body.

The defence attorney was almost pulling his hair out. He could see what was happening. But he stuck to his game plan. His first character witness would be Steven Richards.

This may, on the face of it, have been a bad idea. Steven had seen the worst of Raven. But that was the idea, to show the jurors precisely the depths to which Raven would sink, and that this was even below them. So it was risky, but the whole case was impossible.

Steven stood in the witness stand, wearing a suit that looked like it had last been used during the RTC gimmick, and was sworn in.

"Mr Richards, could you explain to the court your relationship to the defendant."

"We were lovers, off and on until about 18 months ago."

The faint hum of the court had silenced, and was now back, louder. "Did he really say that?"

"I realise this is a personal question, but could you describe the nature of your relationship."

Steven had been prepared for the question so he was able to answer, even with the waver he could feel in his voice. "It was intense. I suppose you could say that there was a certain amount of domination involved on Raven's part, and I was always the submissive partner. And a lot of sadomasochism. It suited our personalities."

"The level of violence with which Mr. Hardy met on a regular basis was normal for you as well?"

"Yes. We, I mean Raven and I, both got off on it. It's very hard to explain. I'm one of those people who enjoys pain, and the feeling of helplessness. But Raven always made sure I knew what I was getting into. He warned me when we first got together, and he made sure I understood the boundaries of our relationship." 'Well I suppose that's one explanation of making me wear a collar most days and calling me his bitch.'

"So you would say that even before he met you he was experienced in this sort of thing."

"Yes. He was the initiator of everything we did, and he knew what he was doing."

"At any point did you feel your life was endangered by his proclivities?"

"Yes and no. During the 'experiences' I was terrified. I felt certain that I'd do something wrong that would result in extreme pain and permanent injury. Sometimes the pain was so great that I thought I was going to die, and that it would be a good thing because then I couldn't feel it." Steven could feel his palms sweating just at the thought, a terrible clammy feeling all over. A nightmarish vision of Raven standing up and throttling him came over his mind.

He controlled his breathing and got rid of it. He continued to give his evidence.

"Between sessions I understood, and was led to understand by others," like Tommy and Paul who should have stopped it, "that that was part of the attraction of such a relationship. They also led me to believe that Raven was very good at being a master, and that as such would probably hurt me beyond my wildest dreams, but do it in a way that left little permanent damage. So I also knew that what we did wouldn't lead to my death."

"With your experience of Raven and the lifestyle he led, do you think that he would have attempted to kill Mr. Hardy during sex?"

"No. He likes causing pain, and if you kill someone then it stops. Plus it would be a huge mark on his record. It would make him look weak. It's not his way of doing things at all."

The galleries were in a shocked silence. The court stenographer was tapping away, not quite sure that she'd heard what she thought she'd heard. And he'd looked like such a nice young man.

"No more questions, your Honour."

"Any questions, m'learned counsel?"

The Prosecutor stood up. She looked at Steven as though trying to decide the best course of action.

"Was this your first relationship of this type?"

"Yes."

"And it never crossed your mind to have relationship of this variety until you met Mr. Raven?"

"No." Well it hadn't. It's not the sort of thing you spend your days thinking about, is it!

The faintest smile crossed her lips. "I'd like to commend you on your frank answers so far." She was up to something. You don't compliment the other side's witnesses, do you? "Even so I would like you to think before you answer this next question. Is it or is it not true that despite everything, you still love Mr. Raven and would do anything for him?"

The million dollar question. The big one. The ever so complicated one. On the one hand, he hated Raven for some of the things he done, but he'd allowed them to happen, so it wouldn't be fair to blame Raven alone for them. On the other, he did love Raven, whatever he did.

He also knew it was a trap to make it seem like the evidence he gave was flawed and false. If she only knew the half of it.

Even with it being a trap, he'd sworn an oath to tell the truth. Maybe if the jury thought he was being honest about this, then they'd realise he was telling the truth about everything else. And that was the important point, he had been telling the truth. Raven was a sick minded twist, but he had always been safe, and would have warned Jeff before anything had got serious. Anything after that was Jeff's fault.

"Yes I do. And I probably would do anything for him."

"Thank you for telling the truth."

The poor defender was now actually tearing his hair out.

~~~~

Outside the courtroom, Steven sat down with a thump. "I need a drink, a smoke, anything."

"You don't do any of those things."

"I think I might take them up."

"It can't have been that bad." Tommy looked concerned.

"It was. The jury obviously think Raven's a bad guy and the prosecution made my evidence sound fake."

"How?"

"She asked me if I'd do anything for Raven, and I said yes."

"You idiot. Why did you say that?"

"Because it's the truth."

"So what! This is one of those occasions where a lie is the better option."

"Don't say that so loud Paul. They might hear. And somehow I think saying you'd be willing to lie might cast doubts on your evidence."

"Why should it? The entire legal profession is based on lies. Scum-licking bloodsuckers all of you."

The only response to that was a few raised eyebrows from the people passing by.


	3. Chapter 3

It was Heyman's turn next. He too had smartened his appearance and was trying to keep the sharper aspects of personality toned down. He hated being in court.

The counsel for the defence asked him all the usual questions, trying to highlight Raven's good side. Paul felt he'd given a good showing.

And then that harpy of a prosecutor started. But Heyman was ready for her. There was no way she would trick him into telling the truth, he'd lied a fair few times in his evidence already.

"During your recent employment with the Alliance were you the head of talent relations?"

"Yes." What was she up to?

"Which meant you oversaw the employment of superstars into the Alliance from the WWF?"

"Yes." Where was she going with this? And what did it have to do with Raven? Now would be a good time for the defence attorney to make one of those clichéd objections

"Objection." That's a good boy. "This line of questioning has nothing to do with my client."

"Sustained. Would counsel care to keep her questions relevant."

"If I could be permitted another two questions, all will be made clear."

"I would prefer it if you would explain now." The judge didn't like Little Miss 'I'm-so-Perfect-and-I'm-going-to-be-going-for-your-job-next' Prosecutor so he was going to stamp his authority on the proceedings while he could.

"There's just the one point I would like to be cleared up by Mr. Heyman. Why did the Alliance fall at Survivor Series?"

"We were betrayed by Kurt Angle."

"I would like to draw the jury's attention to exhibit H2. There's a copy in the folder next to you Mr. Heyman. Could you tell the court what that piece of paper is?"

She had done it. Completely outmanoeuvred him. The paper was Angle's contract with the Alliance. It said that the undersigned had found him fit and trustworthy enough to be poached and given the contract. The undersigned in this case happened to be Heyman. Of course he hadn't vetted Angle. He'd just signed the damn piece of paper, probably at Stephanie's urging. He knew that woman would get him into trouble one of these days.

Women!

And there was no way to deny it. It was down on paper, as clear as the clearest day. She was good this lawyer. She'd studied and found everyone's weak point. That Stevie wouldn't lie, and that Heyman would, given half a chance. She'd made sure he didn't have that chance.

He wouldn't have minded hiring her for the WWF; she would have had them caught within days. But as it was, she was too damn clever for her own good.

"Mr. Heyman."

"Sorry, I was just identifying the document. I've seen so many." Stick that somewhere painful.

The woman smiled. She knew she had him by the balls.

"I think the paper is Kurt Angle's contract with the Alliance." He wasn't going down without a fight.

"And on it, it says that the person so contracted was trustworthy. And you signed it so I presume that you must have found him trustworthy. That doesn't show great abilities in character judgment does it?"

"But I've known Raven for a lot longer than I knew Angle."

"The witness will confine himself to answering the questions asked." Heyman just looked down at the judge, trying to let him know that he knew that the prosecutor would be replacing the judge sooner rather than later, and that she'd do a better job of it. The judge turned away. "Is that all?"

"Yes, no more questions for this witness."

"The witness is excused. We will now have a short recess."  
~~~~

Heyman stumbled back into the corridor. "She was good."

"I told you so," replied Stevie.

Tommy didn't say anything. He knew he was up next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Spoilers for Survivor Series 2001.


	4. Chapter 4

"Really guys, if you two can't get round her, what with you being smart and all, what makes you think I can?" Tommy did not want to go into that den of lions.

"Because we know you'll do your best."

"Really guys, do I have to?"

"Yes." The combined force of Steven and Paul pushed him through the doors.

Tommy hadn't felt comfortable since he'd woken up. Here he was, trying to get Raven off a charge that he might well have been guilty of, and he was itching to get out already.

The worst thing had to be the damned suit. It was just wrong. It felt wrong and it looked wrong. The damned woman was already smiling, that had to be a bad sign.

Tommy took the stand, and gave his evidence.

~~~~

Outside the door, Paul could hear the occasional burst of laughter. He knew that Tommy was nervous, and was dealing with it his way, but it was a serious business. Paul felt like going in there and telling Tommy to stop playing to the gallery.

~~~~

Then it was the Prosecutor's turn.

"So Mr. Dreamer, you would consider yourself one of Mr. Raven's better friends."

"Yeah." "This is despite the fact that you spent rather long periods of time hating him."

"Yeah. I'd better explain. We're both kind of prickly personalities, I'd be the first to admit I'm not the easiest to get along with. So we argued, everyone argues."

Facing this woman had to be worse than dealing with Raven when he was in mind games mood. Yeah, Tommy hated him, but then so what. It wasn't as though hating someone stopped them from being your friends. At times, a lot of them and often, he hated Paul, but that was just a temporary thing, they'd wind each other up, watch the other one go off, and then make up.

"Most people don't hit each other with steel chairs."

"That's because most people don't have them around."

The crowd laughed. The judge raised an eyebrow and was about to bang his gavel when the noise subsided.

"Quite possibly, Mr. Dreamer. Tell me, does your normal diet include hair?"

"Objection. What does the witness's diet have to do with anything?"

"Sustained. Please keep your questions relevant."

"The relevance was that if Mr. Dreamer eats hair then possibly his judgement is slightly impaired."

"Hey lady, I bet you eat donuts, and they're bad for you. I don't hear anyone questioning your judgement."

The crowd laughed again. This time the judge banged his gavel.

"One more question Mr. Dreamer. Have you ever had sex with Mr. Raven?"

"Not that I remember. That probably means I didn't."

"Objection. The witness's sexual habits are not on trial here."

"Sustained. Strike that from the record."

The stenographer struck.

"Any more questions?"

"None, your honour."

"The witness is excused. Since it's late now, we'll go into recess until nine o'clock tomorrow morning."

~~~~

Outside the defence attorney looked glum. He knew he was going to lose this case.

"What's he looking so sad about?" Tommy thought he'd done pretty well.

"Because we all look bad. Even if they struck it from the record, the jury will still think you're a floozy, that Steven's a love-sick fool,"

"And that you're just an idiot." Steven finished for Paul.

"There's got to be someone else we can get to stand up for Raven." Steven was deep in thought. He couldn't let Raven go to jail.

"Sandman?"

"We want to get Raven off, Tommy, not get him electrocuted." Tommy shot a look at Paul, he knew that, Tommy just couldn't think of anyone else Raven was close to.

"The Dudleys."

"That's going to look good, a table loving nut and a crooked preacher."

"Well, you think of someone." Tommy was all out of ideas and Paul wasn't helping.

"Jericho. He'd be able to prove that Jeff wanted to do it." That was Stevie's suggestion.

"Nah, he'd never go for it. Would he?" Tommy couldn't see it happening, Jericho had more reason to hate Raven than anyone other than Matt Hardy. He'd never help Raven out.

"It's got to be worth a shot."

"Let's go then."  
~~~~


	5. Chapter 5

With Heyman having something to do in both shows, the whole WWE circus had stopped in the city for the trial. The moved the house shows so that they were never more than 60 miles away.

All that meant that Chris Jericho was in his hotel room when there was a knock on his door.

"Yeah."

"Can we come in?"

Jericho opened the door to see who "we" was. Outside his hotel room stood Paul Heyman, Tommy Dreamer and Steven Richards.

"What do you want?"

"We just want to talk."

"No way." Jericho tried to close the door but Heyman put his foot in the way.

"Come on, just ten minutes, it's not going to hurt."

Chris knew that it would. They were up to something. He also knew that Heyman wouldn't move his foot until he'd said whatever it was that he wanted to say. Chris gave up and opened the door again.

The three men stepped into the room and shut the door.

"So what do you three stooges want to say?"

"We want you to give evidence."

"Fine, if you want him locked up, I'll do it."

"You know that's not what we mean. We want you to give evidence for Raven."

"For him! Why the hell would I want to do that?" They had some sort of nerve asking him to go and help defend Raven. After all that Raven had done to him, after all that Raven had done to Jeff. And he was expected to be nice about the man.

Steven was the first one to answer, "Because you know that it's the right thing to do."

"Is it though? You saw how bad Jeff was. Raven was responsible for that."

"Yes, but he didn't mean to."

"I don't know how you can stand up for him. I saw what he did to Jeff, and I know he did the same and probably worse to you, and then you stand there and say that it's not his fault. Who made him do it, the tooth fairy? With these two," said Jericho, wildly pointing at Tommy and Paul, "I can understand it, they get on with him. You, why did you do it?"

Why did Steven do it? Didn't he realise it was just years worth of justice catching up to Raven. Shouldn't Steven have been on Jeff's, or rather Matt's, side in all this?

Steven looked up at Chris. He would have liked to have given him a nice, sensible answer, but none of this was nice and sensible. "Are you sure you really want to know?"

That was the first time Chris worried. That hadn't sounded like Steven at all. He was normally so calm about everything. That voice hadn't been calm, it had carried so much import that Chris questioned whether he really did want to know. But, Chris decided, he wasn't going to be put off, he had to know what drove someone to defend a creep like Raven.

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Okay then. I'm defending him because I know what he was doing to Jeff, because I was in Jeff's position once. I know that when Raven does his thing, he doesn't mess about. He knows it's serious, and he knows it's painful, and he makes sure that you know as well. I know that Raven wouldn't deliberately make a mistake. Do you want to know how I know that? I know because Raven, however messed up he is, loves Jeff."

Steven continued. "I'll tell you something else as well. Jeff, your wonderful, darling little Jeff, asked for this. He wanted Raven, he wanted what he did. And I know what it is that screws you up inside. I know that the little knot of tension that won't go away is from knowing that Jeff chose all that horrible nastiness, as you call it, over you."

Chris sat there, open mouthed, stunned by what was being said, and by who was saying it. He was used to vitriol from Jeff. He'd never tell anyone, but that boy had acid in his veins. And he was used to the superior look he got from Raven, that little attitude whenever Raven held Jeff in Jericho's vicinity. But Steven couldn't know all that, could he?

"Do you know something else I know? I know that you're a good man Chris, and I know that however much you hate Raven, you know he didn't do this. You know that it's not right that he should go to jail for it. And the Chris Jericho I know wouldn't let something like that happen just because of some personal vendetta. Because you really are good."

Tommy and Paul sat just as open-mouthed as Chris. Where had all that come from? Stevie must have had a pool of bile stored inside him, 'cause he'd never showed so much anger in, well, forever, almost.

Steven opened the door. "We'd better get going then. The trial starts again at nine tomorrow." And then he went.

The remaining three looked at each other.

Then Paul and Tommy got up and moved out into the corridor. "Yeah, um, goodnight. See you tomorrow?"

Chris shut the door without giving them an answer.  
~~~~


	6. Chapter 6

It was five to nine and there was still no sign of Jericho.

"I told you that you were too harsh on him."

"You think he'd have come just because you asked him to."

"No, but I might have been able to convince him if you hadn't opened your big mouth."

"Guys, there's no need to fight. If he doesn't come, he doesn't come, he was always a last reserve anyway."

Tommy was right, there was no point in beating themselves up over Jericho no showing.

They sat down towards the back of the crowd. They could see the reporters shuffling their papers and preparing to write summaries of the day's events. It looked like it would be summing up today. Both sides had finished with their witnesses, the jury were expectant.

One of the defence attorney's clerks raced into the court room and handed his senior a piece of paper. The man's eyes bugged out.

"Your honour, something has just come up that could be vital to the defence, would it be possible to have an adjournment for an hour?"

"Objection. You had your chance, what could you possibly have come up with?"

"A new witness has come forward. As you can imagine, the nature of this case and involvement in it precluded him coming forward earlier. I realise this is an enormous favour to beg of the court but with the seriousness of the trial and the high tariff imposed on the crime, I have to do my best to prove my client's innocence."

"Very well," the judge sighed, he hoped this had some point to it, he was not in the mood for time wasting, "but take someone from the prosecutor's staff with you, I don't want a double delay." He banged his gavel. "The court is adjourned until 10 o'clock."

Tommy, Paul and Steven turned round to each other, or rather Tommy and Paul did, Steven was once again deep in thought.

"When did our lawyer grow a set?" Previously he distinguished himself only by being such a walk-over.

"When he found out he had evidence that could win us the case."

"You don't think it's Jericho do you?" Tommy wondered. Who else could it be that could be so important, but had only been unearthed so late in the day. Chris was a good guy, and he knew Raven hadn't done it so you would expect him to turn up, wouldn't you?

"It couldn't be. I mean, this is Chris we're talking about. If he was going to come, he would have come on time. He doesn't do late."

"Well, who else could it be?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the chambermaid who saw something, or an ex of Jeff's to prove that he was into this before Raven met him. It could be anything."

The two of them talked idly about who the new witness was and what could be so important about them.

The two attorneys came back early. They whispered to their respective teams and got ready for the forthcoming events. The Prosecutor was talking to Jeff. He said something in reply, but no one could hear it except for her. Matt was nodding at the same time.

"You didn't think I'd come, did you?"

"No, Chris, I knew you'd come." Steven looked up for the first time in forty-five minutes. Chris had made sure he looked the part. There wasn't a trace of red in his hair, which was caught up in a ponytail. Steven hadn't got a clue where Chris would have got the dark grey pinstripe suit from, but it definitely made Chris look responsible. And that was the idea. Chris knew that the information he had could be vital, and he'd made sure it would be well received. "I wasn't lying when I said you're a good man."

The ushers moved in and took Jericho up to the witness stand.

There the defence attorney briefed him on what was about to happen, and no doubt, about how tricky the prosecutor was.

The judge returned and everyone stood up. The formalities were done, and then the Clerk of the Court stood up and walked to the witness stand. He gave Jericho a bible and the piece of paper with the oath on it. The judge told Jericho to proceed.

"I swear by almighty God that the evidence I shall give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

"Mr. Jericho, could you explain your relationship to the case?"

"I work with Raven and I used to be Jeff Hardy's boyfriend." The crowd noise was silenced once again. They'd had a week of revelations.

"And why are you giving evidence today?"

"Basically, I know that Raven would never deliberately cause that much damage to Jeff. It's not because I think he loves him or anything like that, but because I know that our employer would sack him on the spot if he knew what they were doing. Jeff's one of the company's prime assets, and he doesn't was him damaged. And the one thing that Raven loves most of all in the world is his job, and he'd never do anything to endanger it."

"I gather that you and Mr. Raven are not, shall we say, the best of friends."

"Do you mean, do I hate him? Yes I do. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than seeing him jailed in the smallest, darkest cell you can find for a very long time. But if that's going to happen, I'd rather it happen because of something he's done, rather than something he's not responsible for. An accident is an accident, it's not done deliberately."

"Thank you very much. No further questions."

The Prosecutor almost jumped up. "The separation between you and the victim was not amicable, was it?" That must have been what she had discussed with Jeff and Matt, trying to find any dirt that she could.

"No."

"So it could be said that you might do anything to cause him harm. Trying to make his attacker sound innocent for instance."

"No, I love him. That, for me at least, means I never want to see him hurt again."

"Then perhaps you think that this might get you back into his good books. I mean, if your evidence helps to acquit Raven, then Mr. Hardy would be very grateful wouldn't he?"

"I wouldn't do it for any reason other than the truth. It wouldn't help even if that was my reason because Jeff has only got eyes for Raven. I understand that now."

The Prosecutor looked rattled. What had she been expecting?

She'd heard the same thing in the back, but somehow, the way Jericho was phrasing it out here made it sound a lot more convincing. Then she struck upon an alternative path.

"You sound like you know Mr. Raven quite well. Would you say he was trustworthy? Would you trust him with your body?"

"I do every time I step into the ring with him. And he's never deliberately hurt me, however much I goaded him at times."

"You see Mr. Jericho, I want to believe you. You're a very plausible person. But I don't."

"That's your problem."

"Is there any reason I should believe you?"

"Because I swore an oath on something I believe in."

In that simple sentence he'd defeated her as much as if she'd been the wicked witch of the West and he'd just thrown water on her. She smiled again, a real smile this time, she believed him. She believed all of them really, but she had to try.

"No more questions."

~~~~

After a short break for lunch, the summing up began.

The prosecution's case was that Raven had deliberately caused life threatening injuries to Jeff, and that this was therefore attempted murder.

The defence attorney wished he'd had it so easy. His summation was much more complicated, and asked a lot of the jurors. "My client had never denied causing the injuries to Mr. Hardy. However what occurred was an accident. Mr. Hardy accepted the risks he was taking by being in that kind of relationship with Mr. Raven. Whatever the rights and wrongs of their relationship, my client would never want to deliberately cause life threatening injuries to Mr. Hardy. I believe this with all my heart, and hope that the evidence of the witnesses is enough to prove it."

This was a fifty-fifty case. The defence attorney could only hope that Jericho had swung it his way.

The judge directed the jury to forget any prejudices they may have had about homosexuals, and sado-masochistic relationships, and to judge this case on the evidence placed in front of them. He also explained to them that they had to be sure, beyond any reasonable doubt that Mr. Raven had wanted to hurt Mr. Hardy so badly, before they found him guilty. If there was any doubt, however small, they had to find him innocent.

The jury retired to consider their verdict.


	7. Chapter 7

The jury returned a couple of hours later. From the looks on their faces, it had been a difficult discussion. The judge did his whole speech, and then the foreman of the jury stood up.

"We find the defendant not guilty." And then he sat down. One of the jurors looked like he'd just bit into a lemon. Someone must have convinced him to vote not guilty against what he considered his better judgement.

There were no whoops or hollers of joy, everyone merely filed out of court. Raven was taken below.

They waited for him outside, and ten minutes later he came out wearing what had to be his only suit.

Paul had gone over to the prosecutor. "Hi. Do you want to come for a drink with us, you know, to drown your sorrows and all that."

"What is this?"

"Nothing, just an offer of a drink."

"But I did my best to make you look foolish back there."

Tommy butted in. "It's okay, he normally doesn't need any help to do that."

"Thanks for that, Tommy. And I don't mind looking stupid when it's someone smart making me look like that."

"So no hard feelings?"

"None. You were just doing your job."

She looked at her watch. It was one o'clock, and she didn't have another case for a week. What would one lunchtime off hurt? "Okay then. And the name's Nina."

"Pleased to meet you."

Tommy had drawn back and was having a wordless conversation with Steven. They were both rolling their eyes at Paul talking to Nina. Then Steven looked at Raven, who was looking a little lost leaning against a wall. He looked back at Tommy, and indicated Raven. Tommy nodded his understanding and moved towards Raven. As he'd convinced Raven to get up and come with them, Tommy looked beyond Steven at Chris. Then he looked at Steven and made a look that said, "He's your job."

Paul turned round as he, Nina, Tommy and Raven were walking towards the steps that lead to the exit, "Are you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll catch up with you."

"See you then."

"See you."

Steven caught up with Chris as he walked towards a side entrance.

"Not going celebrating?"

"I've got nothing to celebrate."

"Your man won, didn't he?"

"I suppose he did. Thank you by the way."

"I didn't do it for him. I want you to know that."

"I know. I didn't want you to feel that it wasn't appreciated. You're never going to hear a thank you from him, so I thought I'd better say it."

There was an awkward pause.

"I still don't understand what it is you see in him."

"Have you ever looked at him?" Chris looked at Steven. The look said, 'I never expected you to say something like that.' "Yes, I'm shallow, so what."

"I always thought there was something, well, you know, more."

"Oh there was. But I didn't think you wanted to know."

By this stage, they'd walked out into the grassy area surrounding the court. They sat down on one of the benches.

"You've changed, Stevie."

"Thank you for noticing."

"Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?"

"Go ahead, you've just aired your dirty laundry in front of the world because you're one of the good guys, which gives you a year's grace to do anything you want where I'm concerned."

"What happened with you and Raven? It was like you were joined at the hip, and then nothing." Yes, it was a very personal question, but Chris needed to know. If they hadn't broken up, then maybe he and Jeff would still have been together, and then none of this would have happened.

"We drifted. Raven traded me up for a newer, more flexible model."

"You mean he who is always so look beyond the obvious is just as superficial as the rest of us!" That was something new.

"Yes. I blame it on an early mid-life crisis." When had Stevie got so acidic? "Me, I'd been Raven's Stevie for so long that I couldn't remember who Steven was. So I went to find myself. And this is me now. I quite like it. There's some fine tuning needed, but it'll do."

"Miss anything?"

"Some things. I used to be so optimistic. I miss that. If I was still like that then maybe I'd be able to be happy about today instead of thinking about the things we've lost." They'd all lost so much. Not important things perhaps, but in the little details that made life bearable.

"Nina lost the case, the jury lost a week of their lives, Raven lost some of his all important mystique," that had always been one of the things, Raven had always been so mysterious, not quite normal. Now he was almost human. Still at least he hadn't said anything in his defence, that really would have taken half the fun out of trying to figure out what made Raven tick.

"And it's going to be a cold day in hell before Matt lets him anywhere near Jeff again. You and Jeff have managed to lose our reputations. Me, I get sucked back into Raven's orbit. I can't see any real winners in this."

"At least we made sure justice was served."

"Was it though? You told the truth, me, Paul and Tommy, we bent it. Paul tried to make it seem like Raven was reliable, when he's as reliable as the trains, Tommy tried to make Raven sound friendly, when he's as likely to punch you as to talk to you, and I tried to make it seem like Raven didn't enjoy beating me into a pulp. Was it really justice?"

"Yes."

"I'll believe you then."

They sat for a few minutes.

"I'd better go now. I've got to make an appearance at least."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah."

"My door's always open if you want to talk. I like talking to Steven."

"I'll make sure I keep that in mind. See you."

"See you."


End file.
